Can Priyanka Gandhi Help in Revival of the Congress ?

By Deepak Parvatiyar

October 25, 2014

In Nehru’s Allahabad, ‘Priyanka phuljhari (Priyanka Sparklers)’ was as much in demand as ‘Modi bomb’ this Diwali!

Quite an innovative selling idea this but this reiterates the undiminished star value of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who many in the Congress now want to resuscitate the dying party.

Priyanka Gandhi Exudes Charm

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Despite being a reluctant politician, Priyanka does have the sparkle and glamour that could lighten up the Congress’s gloomy faces following the party’s present streak of electoral defeats at the Centre as well as the states.

Priyanka has been around for long. As a teenager, she was indeed a heartthrob of millions of youngsters. She continues to sizzle even now. Consider film star John Abraham saying that “Priyanka Gandhi is my ideal of beauty”!

She does have a magnetic personality and her demeanour allows her to be a natural leader – refreshingly charming yet at the same time extremely lethal. Time and again she has demonstrated with élan that she does possess the ability to take the battle to the enemy’s camp. Remember her asking “Who is Smriti Irani” when queried about the BJP candidate in the fray against her elder brother Rahul Gandhi in Amethi in this year’s General Elections?

Priyanka Gandhi Impresses more than Rahul Gandhi

Obviously, modesty doesn’t count much in politics and Priyanka has indeed picked up the gauntlet in a much befitting fashion than Rahul and in no uncertain ways demonstrated her pedigree that many would envy — “Main Rajiv Gandhi ki beit hoon (I am Rajiv Gandhi’s daughter),” she had said tersely toNarendra Modi who, in course of his election campaigns for the Lok Sabha elections, said that he considered her as his daughter.

Comparisons between siblings are inevitable. Isn’t it a fact thus that the Congress misses Priyanka’s flamboyance in Rahul Gandhi? On personal levels, though a private person, she does appear an extrovert unlike an introvert Rahul. Academically too, records suggest she was a brighter student than her brother.

On public front too, unlike Priyanka, Rahul does lack the finesse and appears arrogant at times – his first television interview to Times Now before the elections was more about ‘me and what I like on certain issues’, than a direct answer to the pointed questions! Even his attack on his own Prime Minister – an unduly submissive Dr Manmohan Singh – over the issue of a government ordinance on convicted lawmakers was an act of defiance to prove that he alone was on a high moral pedestal in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA)!
Rahul’s many more decisions as the Vice President of the Congress such as holding primaries for the selection of party candidates in elections, and handing out more responsibilities to the youth, bombed at the hustings.

Priyanka on the contrary came through with flying colours in her twin responsibilities of managing the parliamentary constituencies of her mother, the Congress President Sonia Gandhi, and her brother – Rae Bareli and Amethi respectively.  Unlike Rahul, whose speeches were often lacklustre and perceptibly impactless, Priyanka’s speeches did evoke public interest in Amethi.

Obviously, their performance reflected in the end result. While the Congress lost under Rahul’s stewardship, Priyanka was successful in positioning her party as numero uno in Amethi as well as in Rae Bareli.

Demand for Priyanka’s Active Involvements in Politics Growing Louder

So, why Priyanka shouldn’t be more involved in politics? This is the question that baffles many. Her persona reminds many of her grandmother and former prime minister late Indira Gandhi. She quite resembles her grandmother and even copies her hairstyle. Yet, like her father (former Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi), she is reluctant to enter politics.

But like Rajiv, would circumstances pull her to politics?

The demand for her entry into politics is growing. After the rout in Maharashtra, Haryana polls, about 250 Congress workers, largely women, even thronged the party headquarters and waived posters reading ‘Waqt ki pukar, Priyanka Gandhi’ (The need of the hour is Priyanka Gandhi), and,  ‘Priyanka Lao Congress Bachao (Bring Priyanka; Save Congress)’.

In the past too there had been such demands, but there were never such open demonstrations to press them to such extent. That these demands are much louder than ever now is also because the political fortunes of the Congress are at their lowest ebb and at present it has just nine states remaining in its kitty.

As the slump continues, there seems a growing perception within the Congress party – so enamoured with the Nehru-Gandhi family – that had Priyanka actively campaigned for the party, the results would have been different in Haryana and Maharashtra. Even senior Congress leader and Gandhi family loyalist Oscar Fernandes too had joined the chorus saying Priyanka “should have a more active role in the Congress”.

Despite being aloof from active politics, Priyanka is not a persona non grata in electoral politics. For many years now, she has been attending party workers’ meetings, and has been involved in strategizing campaigns for her mother and brother in their respective constituencies. She had also played a pivotal role for the Congress during elections in Uttar Pradesh in 2009.

But is she ready to play a larger role than just to address the requirements of her brother and mother; or to defend in public, her husband Robert Vadra who is allegedly involved in controversial land deals in Haryana and Rajasthan?

Obviously, the Congress looks up to her to lead upfront and be the saviour of the Party!